ALANA SIERRA WHITAKER has arrived!!
Born Thursday, September 18 at 8:03am
8lb 1oz (that's 1oz less than her brother)
22in (that's 1/2in longer than her brother)
I'll get right to the pictures because I know that's what you want. Then I'll tell the story!
A L A N A !!!!
Right after delivery...Thankful!
After school, Alex came right to the hospital to see his sister.
He waited by the nursery window for his sister to come out!
Clearly EXCITED!!!
Clearly EXCITED!!!
Walking with the nurse and Alana back to the room
When asked if he wanted to her, with no hesitation and still EXCITED he said yes!
Table for 4 please
Day 2 - Grandmas and Alana
Thanks to some lovely neighbors our house and cars were decorated so that it was clear
we were celebrating "our girl".
Stickers said "It's A Girl"
Day 5 - Alex requested to hold Alana.
On Wednesday morning (due date), Charles and I went to the dr. for a regularly schedule appointment. Similar to being pregnant with Alex, I was glad to have an appointment on the due date if the kid wasn't here yet. However, this time I was a little more anxious because in order to have a natural (with drugs) delivery this time (Alex was c-section), I knew I needed to dilate to at least 2/3cm on my own. The prior week I was a "good" 1cm, but throughout the week I had been trying techniques to hopefully help me progress. I was also a little more anxious because it was "Dr. Man Hands" who was going to check me. ALL the drs. in this practice are extremely nice and I do feel comfortable with any of them, but this male dr. just has true "man hands". I saw him a few weeks prior and he only checked the baby externally and even is the one who informed me that the head was down, but 15 seconds after him pressing around my stomach to feel the kid, I could still feel his hands. Hahaha! If he wasn't as nice as he is, I would have probably tried to switch drs. ANYWAY! He came in the room and was ready to check on things. He offered me his 2 fingers to squeeze/hold on to as he knew their would be pressure. Someone must have told him about his hands before. Hahaha. Needless to say I accepted his fingers and did squeeze. After the exam he said I was 4cm! YESSSSSS!!!! So he said basically said we were just waiting for the water to break. He did give us the paperwork to set up induction for the following week, but that's just procedure.
Charles and I left the dr.'s office and went to the mall for a quick walk around. I had a few contractions while walking but nothing to shut me down. We then went to a Chinese buffet and then home to take a nap. Later we picked up Alex and settled in for the rest of the evening...so we thought. I knew I was having contractions, but honestly I was getting tired of trying to time the distance apart, how long, etc. I called my dad and told him that the next day after taking Alex to school, Charles would just bring me to their house for me to hang out. That way if my water broke or if anything else happened, I would be close to hospital. He said cool! Well after looking at the clock and seeing that it was only 9/10pm, I knew that with how uncomfortable I was I needed to call the dr. I wasn't going to be able to sleep through the night. So I put my fear of the hospital checking me and "sending me back home" to the side and called the dr. The dr. on duty was "Dr. Man Hands", which I already knew because I asked the dr.'s office who was on call that night. Dr. Man Hands told me to come on in and let's check things out. So I called my dad back (probably 30/45 mins from my previous call) and said we're going to drop Alex off because I'm going to hospital. Of course he was fine with that. When we pulled up to the house, I saw my mom coming out of the house with her purse and I thought, "where is she going", but at that point it didn't really matter to me that she was following us to the hospital. At the hospital they sent me upstairs and as I paced the floor and swayed on the couch, they finally called my name to come in the back. I did pre-register, but still felt like they asked every question in the book. They also took my license, insurance card and had Charles signing some papers. So I proceeded to ask, "After all this, is there still a possibility that you might send me home?" The labor and delivery nurse smiled and said we'll see if you're made any progress (beyond 4cm) and if not we'll walk you for an hour to see if anything changes. Then she gave me the "if not" you're going home face. So she finally checked me and said "Oh you're at about 7cm." GEEZ TAMEKA! Then she asked "What do you plan to do for pain management?" I nicely said "DRUGS and soon if you can." She then walked me from behind the curtain to a real room.
Charles went and got my mom as it was official that I wasn't going anywhere. With my request for drugs, the nurse had someone else in there to give me an IV before I knew it. We won't talk about how she had to stick me 3 times and how Charles was sitting over there shaking his head like "this lady doesn't know what she's doing." Then within an hour I was getting my epidural. Thank you nurse for not playing around! The dr. came in, broke my water and then it was time to get some rest while waiting to progress from 8-10cm so I could push. Pushing time came at 6am. My mom tried to excuse herself from the room, but I was like "What for?" She had been in the room with us the entire time and it's not like other people were waiting in the lobby so just stay put. I knew she was going to be praying wherever she was so just stay and pray over there in the corner of this room. The nurse did move her from sitting at my feet to the up near my head. She put Charles at my left foot as it was time for him to help. I was so tired of hearing the sounds coming out of my mouth (breathing thru contractions) that before pushing I asked Charles to play Alicia Keys on Pandora. I started pushing but after about 5 non-upbeat Alicia Keys songs I had asked Charles to change the station. Now my request was for my girl Mary J. Blige. Well after about 3 Mary songs, I couldn't take her either. I said Charles please just go to YouTube and play the Wobble. Charles shook his head, the nurse chuckled and I laid there waiting. The song came on and while I couldn't totally do it, I was singing along and dancing with my upper body. Yes! Hype music! When that went off, I said play the Cha-Cha Slide! The nurse said you just need the dance channel on Pandora. She might have been right. When the Cha-Cha Slide went off, I heard Pharrell's "Happy" playing, courtesy of my mom. I had to put a stop to that one because I said I ain't that happy yet. Can't do that yet. We all laughed! Later after delivery, I discovered that the TV had music channels, but I had no clue. All I could think about is if I turn on the TV right now it's gonna be the morning news and I'm not trying to hear about who got shot last night. Wrong energy. I do recall after one particular pushing episode, saying "This is some BS." only for everyone in the room to slightly chuckle. My epidural was working so I wasn't in pain, it was more so the process. Then the nurse informed me that first time deliveries usually take 1-3hours of pushing. Nice...side eye. They told me when they could see hair and even asked if I wanted to touch....UHHH NO! They also noticed that she was "sunny side up" instead of face down and that might have been playing apart in the delivery. I didn't realize just how much work nurses do until the dr. didn't come in until the last minutes of pushing. NEW RESPECT...for nurses! As my feet shook from the tingle (dancing feet as the dr. called them), the dr. realized the cord was around her neck and informed Charles that he was going to have to get this one (as in Charles wouldn't be able to cut it) only for Charles to give a look like "man I don't care." After a few more pushes, I did see her face down in the dr.'s arms. He immediately called for "special teams" and about 5 people came into the room to work on her. I didn't know what was going on, but I didn't ask questions I just let them do WHATEVER needed to be done. I started praying and looked over at my mom who was already on it. Apparently after being sunny side up and having the cord around her neck cut, she did a flip/turn that happened so fast even the monitors didn't pick it up and it wrapped the cord back around her neck. The dr. couldn't even get his finger in between the cord and her neck so that's what triggered his special teams request. THANKFULLY all ended well and I could hear them talking about all of her hair before I even got to hold her. Charles and my mom were able to take pics and see her while I laid there as the dr. finished me up. My time to hold her finally came and the first thing I noticed was her large cheeks. I wasn't sure if Alex had those or not, but hey they are two different people. I gave her back to the nurses and Charles followed them down to the nursery for her first bath. I text a few people to inform them of Alana's arrival, but remember informing them that I needed a nap and would call them later. OMG I WAS SOOOO TIRED!!! Didn't expect that. Again the nurses we're very nice and constantly asking if we needed anything. With a constant "no thank you" response, they told us we were "too easy". Guess they've had their share of "needy people". I didn't want anything, but some shut eye. I didn't get alot, but you know how you just pull energy from somewhere else to keep going. The hospital was so busy with women who had/just having babies that I had to wait until approx. 3pm to get a regular room (outside of labor and delivery). When I was finally being pushed to my room, the nurses were raving to other nurses about how much hair Alana had. It wasn't a big deal to me, but clearly it's not something seen everyday. They also congratulated me on having a "regular delivery" this time after having a previous c-section. Apparently most women don't want to or give up. That felt good to know that I was among the "rare".
The rest of the day went along smoothly. Alex came into the room immediately looking for "sister", but she was in the nursery. The nurse offered to go and get her, but Alex wanted to go also. He stood at the nursery window with dancing feet (literally...he was like running in place) and the biggest grin on his face to see "sister". He was telling strangers in the hallway that his sister was coming and even told someone she has new shoes like mine. Uhhhh I don't know where that came from cause clearly Alana wouldn't have on any shoes and the shoes he was wearing were far from new. When she finally came out, he said "Wow, look at the cute baby!" We went back to the room and he was ready to hold her. When it was time for him to leave with Grammy and Papi, he wanted to take "sister" with him. Not yet buddy. And yes, he does know her name is Alana and can say if very clearly, but "sister" is what works for him right now.
Around 2am, we would send Alana to the nursery. They said they would bring her back at 5am so I could feed her. Ok sure. No problem. Well when she came back, this girl was not trying to wake up and eat. I tried old tricks I had learned with Alex. Wet washcloth. Taking clothes off. Anything to make her uncomfortable. It didn't work! She was making me tired. Therefore I put her on my chest back in that hospital bed and we both went back to sleep. She slept for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours. This happened 2 nights in a row. Guess that means don't wake me up unless I wake up and tell you I need attention. Another thing I wasn't expecting was the SORENESS. Early Friday morning, a lady came in wanting to take some blood. I went extend my arm to her and was like ohhh wait a minute. SORE. Why? Then I remembered pulling/holding on to the side bars during delivery. That was basically a 2 hour work out. No wonder I was sore. Throughout the day the nurses would ask if I was in pain or wanted meds, but I don't think of pain and soreness as the same thing. I guess they are a little bit though because the meds did help.
After a few more visitors, we were able to check out on Saturday. That's after we originally got cleared by my dr. and Alana's dr., but Alana's dr. didn't put some number in the computer correctly or at all so we couldn't leave. You think "oh no problem she came back immediately"...UHHH NO! When they called her she said she wouldn't be back until 2/3pm. It was currently 10:30am. Deep Sigh, but whatever! We eventually made it home and things have been going well.
More pics.....!!!!
Charles and I left the dr.'s office and went to the mall for a quick walk around. I had a few contractions while walking but nothing to shut me down. We then went to a Chinese buffet and then home to take a nap. Later we picked up Alex and settled in for the rest of the evening...so we thought. I knew I was having contractions, but honestly I was getting tired of trying to time the distance apart, how long, etc. I called my dad and told him that the next day after taking Alex to school, Charles would just bring me to their house for me to hang out. That way if my water broke or if anything else happened, I would be close to hospital. He said cool! Well after looking at the clock and seeing that it was only 9/10pm, I knew that with how uncomfortable I was I needed to call the dr. I wasn't going to be able to sleep through the night. So I put my fear of the hospital checking me and "sending me back home" to the side and called the dr. The dr. on duty was "Dr. Man Hands", which I already knew because I asked the dr.'s office who was on call that night. Dr. Man Hands told me to come on in and let's check things out. So I called my dad back (probably 30/45 mins from my previous call) and said we're going to drop Alex off because I'm going to hospital. Of course he was fine with that. When we pulled up to the house, I saw my mom coming out of the house with her purse and I thought, "where is she going", but at that point it didn't really matter to me that she was following us to the hospital. At the hospital they sent me upstairs and as I paced the floor and swayed on the couch, they finally called my name to come in the back. I did pre-register, but still felt like they asked every question in the book. They also took my license, insurance card and had Charles signing some papers. So I proceeded to ask, "After all this, is there still a possibility that you might send me home?" The labor and delivery nurse smiled and said we'll see if you're made any progress (beyond 4cm) and if not we'll walk you for an hour to see if anything changes. Then she gave me the "if not" you're going home face. So she finally checked me and said "Oh you're at about 7cm." GEEZ TAMEKA! Then she asked "What do you plan to do for pain management?" I nicely said "DRUGS and soon if you can." She then walked me from behind the curtain to a real room.
Charles went and got my mom as it was official that I wasn't going anywhere. With my request for drugs, the nurse had someone else in there to give me an IV before I knew it. We won't talk about how she had to stick me 3 times and how Charles was sitting over there shaking his head like "this lady doesn't know what she's doing." Then within an hour I was getting my epidural. Thank you nurse for not playing around! The dr. came in, broke my water and then it was time to get some rest while waiting to progress from 8-10cm so I could push. Pushing time came at 6am. My mom tried to excuse herself from the room, but I was like "What for?" She had been in the room with us the entire time and it's not like other people were waiting in the lobby so just stay put. I knew she was going to be praying wherever she was so just stay and pray over there in the corner of this room. The nurse did move her from sitting at my feet to the up near my head. She put Charles at my left foot as it was time for him to help. I was so tired of hearing the sounds coming out of my mouth (breathing thru contractions) that before pushing I asked Charles to play Alicia Keys on Pandora. I started pushing but after about 5 non-upbeat Alicia Keys songs I had asked Charles to change the station. Now my request was for my girl Mary J. Blige. Well after about 3 Mary songs, I couldn't take her either. I said Charles please just go to YouTube and play the Wobble. Charles shook his head, the nurse chuckled and I laid there waiting. The song came on and while I couldn't totally do it, I was singing along and dancing with my upper body. Yes! Hype music! When that went off, I said play the Cha-Cha Slide! The nurse said you just need the dance channel on Pandora. She might have been right. When the Cha-Cha Slide went off, I heard Pharrell's "Happy" playing, courtesy of my mom. I had to put a stop to that one because I said I ain't that happy yet. Can't do that yet. We all laughed! Later after delivery, I discovered that the TV had music channels, but I had no clue. All I could think about is if I turn on the TV right now it's gonna be the morning news and I'm not trying to hear about who got shot last night. Wrong energy. I do recall after one particular pushing episode, saying "This is some BS." only for everyone in the room to slightly chuckle. My epidural was working so I wasn't in pain, it was more so the process. Then the nurse informed me that first time deliveries usually take 1-3hours of pushing. Nice...side eye. They told me when they could see hair and even asked if I wanted to touch....UHHH NO! They also noticed that she was "sunny side up" instead of face down and that might have been playing apart in the delivery. I didn't realize just how much work nurses do until the dr. didn't come in until the last minutes of pushing. NEW RESPECT...for nurses! As my feet shook from the tingle (dancing feet as the dr. called them), the dr. realized the cord was around her neck and informed Charles that he was going to have to get this one (as in Charles wouldn't be able to cut it) only for Charles to give a look like "man I don't care." After a few more pushes, I did see her face down in the dr.'s arms. He immediately called for "special teams" and about 5 people came into the room to work on her. I didn't know what was going on, but I didn't ask questions I just let them do WHATEVER needed to be done. I started praying and looked over at my mom who was already on it. Apparently after being sunny side up and having the cord around her neck cut, she did a flip/turn that happened so fast even the monitors didn't pick it up and it wrapped the cord back around her neck. The dr. couldn't even get his finger in between the cord and her neck so that's what triggered his special teams request. THANKFULLY all ended well and I could hear them talking about all of her hair before I even got to hold her. Charles and my mom were able to take pics and see her while I laid there as the dr. finished me up. My time to hold her finally came and the first thing I noticed was her large cheeks. I wasn't sure if Alex had those or not, but hey they are two different people. I gave her back to the nurses and Charles followed them down to the nursery for her first bath. I text a few people to inform them of Alana's arrival, but remember informing them that I needed a nap and would call them later. OMG I WAS SOOOO TIRED!!! Didn't expect that. Again the nurses we're very nice and constantly asking if we needed anything. With a constant "no thank you" response, they told us we were "too easy". Guess they've had their share of "needy people". I didn't want anything, but some shut eye. I didn't get alot, but you know how you just pull energy from somewhere else to keep going. The hospital was so busy with women who had/just having babies that I had to wait until approx. 3pm to get a regular room (outside of labor and delivery). When I was finally being pushed to my room, the nurses were raving to other nurses about how much hair Alana had. It wasn't a big deal to me, but clearly it's not something seen everyday. They also congratulated me on having a "regular delivery" this time after having a previous c-section. Apparently most women don't want to or give up. That felt good to know that I was among the "rare".
The rest of the day went along smoothly. Alex came into the room immediately looking for "sister", but she was in the nursery. The nurse offered to go and get her, but Alex wanted to go also. He stood at the nursery window with dancing feet (literally...he was like running in place) and the biggest grin on his face to see "sister". He was telling strangers in the hallway that his sister was coming and even told someone she has new shoes like mine. Uhhhh I don't know where that came from cause clearly Alana wouldn't have on any shoes and the shoes he was wearing were far from new. When she finally came out, he said "Wow, look at the cute baby!" We went back to the room and he was ready to hold her. When it was time for him to leave with Grammy and Papi, he wanted to take "sister" with him. Not yet buddy. And yes, he does know her name is Alana and can say if very clearly, but "sister" is what works for him right now.
Around 2am, we would send Alana to the nursery. They said they would bring her back at 5am so I could feed her. Ok sure. No problem. Well when she came back, this girl was not trying to wake up and eat. I tried old tricks I had learned with Alex. Wet washcloth. Taking clothes off. Anything to make her uncomfortable. It didn't work! She was making me tired. Therefore I put her on my chest back in that hospital bed and we both went back to sleep. She slept for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours. This happened 2 nights in a row. Guess that means don't wake me up unless I wake up and tell you I need attention. Another thing I wasn't expecting was the SORENESS. Early Friday morning, a lady came in wanting to take some blood. I went extend my arm to her and was like ohhh wait a minute. SORE. Why? Then I remembered pulling/holding on to the side bars during delivery. That was basically a 2 hour work out. No wonder I was sore. Throughout the day the nurses would ask if I was in pain or wanted meds, but I don't think of pain and soreness as the same thing. I guess they are a little bit though because the meds did help.
After a few more visitors, we were able to check out on Saturday. That's after we originally got cleared by my dr. and Alana's dr., but Alana's dr. didn't put some number in the computer correctly or at all so we couldn't leave. You think "oh no problem she came back immediately"...UHHH NO! When they called her she said she wouldn't be back until 2/3pm. It was currently 10:30am. Deep Sigh, but whatever! We eventually made it home and things have been going well.
More pics.....!!!!
Of course everyone wanted to take pictures of Alex and Alana once we got home,
but this kid wasn't about it. This was the best we got.
but this kid wasn't about it. This was the best we got.
The day after everyone left, he requested to hold Alana and didn't mind a picture.
I know they say a baby doesn't really smile (and know it) until about 2 months, but what do you call this? This is a multiple times a day occurrence.
Alex used to sleep EXACTLY like this. Can't find his picture, but I will.
Ok. Long post, but remember I do this blog as a way for me to remember what happened. So that's why it can sometimes be a little lengthy. Thanks for your patience. Your love and prayers. More post to come!
